Two people can look up in the sky at the same cloud without seeing eye to eye, so to speak. One could see a castle, while the other sees a penguin, or Danny DeVito.
Santa Barbara-based artist and retired teacher Cathy Quiel is fascinated with this type of pareidolia, humans’ ability to perceive meaningful images in random visual patterns. She named her new art book after the concept, which she explores through a collection of watercolor and ink pieces that often require a double take to catch a seemingly endless amount of surreal images intertwined over one another.
Copies of Pareidolia, released in June, are available for sale at Gallery Los Olivos, where Quiel is currently one of two featured artists in the venue’s latest duo exhibition, titled An Exploration of Whimsy. Her works are displayed alongside a collection of colorful landscapes by oil painter Carol Simon.
During a call with the Sun, Quiel opened up about her recent collaboration with Simon, her art book, and a new art series she’s currently working on.
Sun: When did you become inspired to create the multifaceted pieces found in your new art book and currently on display at Gallery Los Olivos? What’s the origin story behind this series of artworks?
Quiel: When I taught through Santa Barbara City College adult ed., I took people on trips to do landscapes. I found on these trips that people would get nervous staring at the white of the paper. So I started having people just splash some color on the page lightly, just to get away from that white paper. And when I was doing that myself, all of a sudden I started seeing critters and people and things within the colors. That’s what started this thing. I started drawing these imaginative things, and it was so much fun. I’ve probably done about 100 of them.
Sun: As your works tend to invite various kinds of interpretations, has there ever been a case where you heard an interpretation of one of your pieces from a viewer that truly surprised you or caught you off guard?
Quiel: A friend once looked at a painting I’d done of a giant onion. It was like 4 feet wide by 3 feet high. She really felt, psychologically, that I was trying to show “the peeling away of the layers of who you are”—which I don’t think I was doing, but that’s what she found in it.
Sun: How would you describe your collaboration with artist Carol Simon on your new duo show at the gallery? What made you two decide to pair your respective works with one another in a shared showcase?
Quiel: Our colors and palettes are very similar. With her landscapes, she starts with a photograph at first but then doesn’t look at it again much—she just goes for it. … They’re literal but abstract in a way. I love the feel of them. So I thought we’d be a good match, and we were. And we worked really well putting the show up together and planning it. I’m really happy with the show.
Sun: Did you know Carol before collaborating with her on the show? Were you two already familiar with each other?
Quiel: Yes. She and I are also in a critique group. There’s 10 artists, and we meet once a month, taking turns at each of our houses. We critique each other’s work because sometimes you miss things in your own work that are blatantly, “Why didn’t I catch that before I framed it?” It’s a wonderful group. I had met her at the gallery first but really got to know her through the monthly meetings.
Sun: With your new art book finished and out in the world, do you know what kind of art project you’d like to tackle next?
Quiel: My current series I’ve been working on for the last couple of years is—well, I call it Out of Pocket. I was at a wedding for a friend’s son and there was a guy, maybe 22 or 23, in front of me and he had a baby bottle in one pocket and a kiddie toy in the other. And I thought to myself, things that hang out of other people’s pockets tell a lot about them. They kind of tell a story. So that’s what started the series. I’m having fun with that one. I’m hoping it will show in two years, when I’m 75. That’s my goal. Oh wait, I lied. I’ll be 74 in August. I’ve only got a year left!
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood wants to know what’s in your pocket. Send responses to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 20-30, 2023.